Does this mean I have to stop torturing stoner commie children?
I would NOT want that nutjob deciding what is moral for ME. No, this liberal (me) would be more along the lines of
Keep your moral judgements and your meddling ways out of my personal, moral, religious, etc business.
“Conservatism”, the label, has been changed over the years to mean more government interference through more laws/bills, nuisance taxes, sin taxes, where it does NOT belong.
Free speech zones? Not a liberal construct.
Sin taxes? Not a liberal construct.
Investigating what books you check out at the library (Patriot Act)? Not a liberal construct.
Military tribunal instead of criminal trial in open court? Not a liberal construct.
Rendition instead of a trial and conviction? Not a liberal construct.
One problem I see with the decriminalization of MJ is that it is classified as an illicit substance. There are lots of drugs on this list.
Once done, it may entail a slippery slope to decriminalize other drugs on that list. Heroin, Coke, etc
I’d be interested in some statistics on how much government could gain financially if they did legalize it vs keeping it illegal and putting people in jail (and/or fining them).
Keep in mind that currently, ANY politician with this as a front running campaign promise, goes NOWHERE.
I love how the article is this big long diatribe about all of the evils of marijuana, and then the accompanying poll (Should it be legalized?) says 96% voted yes–legalize.
Indeed, concerns about the slippery-slope are a major aspect of conservative thought. It’s not so much that a small deviation from strict standards is itself grossly unacceptable, but rather that a loosening of standards would lead to looser and looser standards until we have an intractable mess of social problems on our hands.